


What Christmas Really Means

by FullmetalDevil



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Special, Family Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 15:15:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17144135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FullmetalDevil/pseuds/FullmetalDevil
Summary: Christmas has come and it is the first for both Bendy the dancing demon and Benny the stitched demon everyone that cares for them decide to make it the best Christmas the two demons could possibly have.





	What Christmas Really Means

**Author's Note:**

> First off I'd like to say Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone. This is my first Christmas story featuring Benny the Stitched Demon and Bendy the Dancing Demon. I wish you all a wonderful holiday, and I hope you all enjoy the short story.
> 
> Now on with the show~

Christmas was rapidly approaching as a modest single family home was warmly lit within. The smell of cookies drifted through the house, a young dark haired woman could be seen wandering throughout the kitchen.

Allison paced to and fro within the kitchen baking all sort of cookies, the table was covered in cookbooks and bowls of dough. She wanted to make her newest addition to the family to feel as welcome as possible and to see what the holiday meant.

The sound of padded feet and mumbling alerted Allison to her other resident within the home; her husband Tom. The tall gruff looking man fumbled around the kitchen searching for the coffee pot, grasping his treasure, he hoarded the pot for himself as he slunk over to the kitchen table sitting down. He didn't even bother with a mug, he drank the dark brew strait from the pot, which he was lucky Allison made it much earlier in the morning giving it ample time for the beverage to cool. After several minutes Tom seemed to gather himself as he opened his eyes more then just squinting, taking in the sight of the cluttered table.

"Baking Christmas cookies?" He looked at the different dough's, sprinkles, candy, and extracts littering the table along with various holiday cookbooks.

"Uhh huh" Allison gingerly lifted a already set up cookie sheet and set it in the oven, turning to set a timer before sitting down in front of Tom.

"So does he know?" Tom looking up at her from his coffee pot mug.

"No, it will be his first." Allison fingered through a cookbook. "and I want it to be his best."

"Anything planned for the day then? I got the next few days off cause of the holiday" Tom raised a brow peering over his coffee pot.

"Well first we need a tree and decorations, then we can go from there." Allison closed the book. "But we need to make sure to pick up our little present that we talked about the other day before we set up all the decorations."

Tom nodded and set his pot down, then swiped a few cookies getting him a glare as he wandered off to get dressed. He walked down the hall sparring a few glances at photos along the way. The wall was littered in recent photo's of them and their newest family member, Benny. The little plushtoon demon was a ray of sunshine in the couple's lives, and when Benny's counterpart Bendy and his creator Henry came to visit, it made them all feel like a large strange family. The two toons were the glue to their family and kept the former coworkers all connected. He smiled as he fondly reminisced over some of the photos, making his way to the other member of the house's room.

Tom came to a door with a little placard with a stitch pattern drawn on the edges with 'Benny' written in several different colors. He quietly opened the door seeing that the light was still off and heard soft snores in the corner.

The room was a soft baby blue with white trim, the room was decorated with a large dresser, desk, a easy up chair, a walk-in closet and a child's bed. Plush toys were neatly stacked on the desk next to a sewing machine as fabric and cotton littered the floor around the desk. The child's bed, a bit small, had small cartooney 'Z's floating above it as they dissipated into the air. Tom quietly approached the bed and looked down at the sleeping occupant.

Resting within the bed was Benny the stitched demon, he looked just like his toon counterpart Bendy the dancing demon except that he had sepia coloring and had stitches all over his body. Benny was originally a doll that was made in the Heavenly Toy factory portion of Joey Drew Studios and was patterned in the likeness of Bendy the star character, since as a doll he didn't make the cut due to a defect. He was subjected to the ink machine as a test run and had a surprisingly successful result, the ink machine had brought the doll to life as a half toon half plush character. The toon had a rough start since the director of the studio Joey Drew, tried to kill him shortly after birth. The horrors of the studio now behind them all as everyone tried to repair their broken lives, especially the surviving toons adjusting to their new world. 

Tom knelt down to the bed and gently stroked one of Benny's horns resulting in a small hum as the toon started to stir. He rolled over and struggled a bit to open his mismatched pie cut eyes, looking up at tom, making a small confused squeaky toy like noise while rubbing his eyes.

"C'mon pal you gotta get up" Tom chuckled while he looked at the little sleepy demon. Benny weakly grabbed the blanket and tried to cover himself back up, not quite ready to get up. Sighing, Tom slid his hands under the blanket and lifted both the toon and the blanket as he carried him out the room. Benny making small whining noise but too tired to pretest.

Tom wandering into the kitchen setting the toon at the table while he returned to his room to get dressed.

Benny winced at the bright light as he stirred within the blanket covering his head. Allison chuckled at the toons refusal to wake up in the morning, she poured him a glass of milk and set it in front of him. A yellow gloved hand slowly emerged from the blanket cocoon and felt around the table till it tapped the glass, gently grasping the glass, it withdrew into the cocoon and small gulps could be heard within.

Since the toon was busy with his milk Allison cleaned up the table some putting away the cookbooks and clearing up most of the bowls that were filled with dough. She set out a plate of white chocolate pancakes she made up earlier and a tub of syrup. She grabbed a chair and waited for the toon to emerge from his wrap and for her husband to enter the kitchen.

She didn't wait long, Tom entered the kitchen fully clothed and moaned as he opened up the cabinets grabbing 3 plates, and then the cutlery drawer grabbing 3 forks. He came to the table setting the plates and forks down taking a seat next to Benny. Tom wasn't a morning person and his coffee binge hadn't quite kicked in fully.

Benny slowly emerged from his cocoon setting the half empty glass of milk down on the table while Tom set two pancakes on Benny's plate, before grabbing two of his own. Both man and toon yawned at the same time as they both sleepily dug into their food, and occasionally nursing their respective drinks. Benny had his glass of milk while Tom still had his pot of coffee.

Allison had to stifle a laugh watching the man and toon seemingly mirroring each other. She quickly took a bite of her own food before she could possibly laugh that would let her companions know of her observing them.

The kitchen was silent say for the hums of appreciation for the food until a ding sounded off in corner next to the oven. Allison quickly got up from the table and slid on a oven mitt before she opened up the oven, reaching in and grabbing a now baked tray of cookies setting them atop the stove to cool.

"What are you baking?" the small plushdevil inquired as he finished off his glass of milk, now noticing the bowls of dough at the end of the table.

"Sugar cookies, thumbprint cookies, snowball cookies, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies." Allison listed off the varieties, looking at the tray cookies cooling on the stove while lightly patting them to ensure that they were fully baked. “I already made chocolate chip, thumbprint, and snowball. All I have left is the Sugar cookies and peanut butter cookies” She removed the oven mitt and hung it back on the wall.

"How come you're making so many cookies?" Benny asked while grabbing his now empty plate, he hopped up on a step stool placing it into the sink, then joined Allison at her side as he tried to get a peak at the cookies.

"They are for Christmas." Allison bent down and scooped up the curious demon, lifting him up so he can see the still cooling cookies.

"Christmas?" Benny asked her tilting his head. His hand drifted to the cookies, but Allison lightly tapped his fingers. She wagged her own finger as if telling him 'no not yet'.

"It's that one time of the year where all the assholes try to be nice so they can get presents, and the malls are full of idiots." Tom grumbled from the table, instantly shutting up from Allison's glare.

"It's a time of year where we celebrate many different things and traditions depending on ones belief and origin. For some it's religious, others a seasonal festival, or for the simple sake of family" Allison gently hugged Benny. "I like to think of it as a time to celebrate family."

Benny smiled and hugged in turn feeling Allison's warmth. "Family." he quietly hummed.

"So to celebrate we are going to go out and get a few things to decorate. So go get dressed, so we can go." Allison perked up flashing a ear to ear grin on her face, not even attempting to hide her own excitement.

"Yay!" Benny cheered, wiggling in her arms. Allison set him down and watched him race off to his room to get dressed to go out.

Tom approached her and chuckled at the toons excitement "He really is like a kid" 

"Yeah." as Allison leaned into him smiling at were she saw Benny last before he disappeared. The toon was like a child that the couple always wanted, his zest for life and wonder in his eyes upon seeing new things always made Allison and Tom smile.

"I take it you didn't tell him about our guests?" Tom lifted a brow looking down at Allison as she broke away to put the remaining dough in the fridge, and to finish cleaning up the remains of her baking projects on the table.

"No, I want everything to be a surprise. Bendy doesn't even know either, Henry hasn't said anything to him, he and said that he'll be here first thing tomorrow. He told me he's bringing gifts, extra steaks, and a roast. Norman, Sammy and Wally are all carpooling since they are coming from the same direction. They are also bringing gifts and food as well." Allison started grabbing the remaining spoons from the dough and slid them into the sink. "Susie will be coming around the afternoon since her flight doesn't get in till tonight and she needs to rest a bit. She didn't say what she was bringing, but with the guys all bringing stuff it's not going to be a problem. I'm just thankful that they were all more then willing to pitch in." 

“Well all things considering after what we all went through, for some of us, we are the only family we have. Being confined for 30 years with the world moving forward while the rest of us were in limbo, we are the only ones that understand each other.” Tom frowned slightly, mentally retracing his steps of the events within the studio. “Though it's not so bad cause we rescued those that matter most; ourselves and the two little toons that bind us all together.” a small smile crept across his face.

The couple's conversation cut short when they saw Benny enter the kitchen dressed in a black coat wearing a beanie to hide his horns. He pie cut eyes practically sparkling with anticipation and excitement, his grin couldn't possibly get any wider. Both husband and wife chuckled, Allison finished cleaning up the kitchen and slipped away to get her coat so they could go out.

Tom ushered Benny to the car and made sure the toon was buckled in as he sat in the drivers seat warming the car up while waiting for his wife. Allison emerged from the house dressed in a large red coat, turning to lock up the house before entering the car. The group drove down the road with Allison doing her best to answer Benny's questions about the holidays, occasionally shooting daggers at Tom when he snuck in a snide comment.

After driving for 20 minutes and Tom raging behind the drivers seat, they pulled into the local shopping center that was packed full of people rushing around with bags and boxes. Benny looked nervous from his back seat, he had never seen so many people before. He wasn't used to the shopping center being so active. Allison had to coax the toon out of the car reassuring him it was ok and that he wasn't going to have any problems. Tom resorting to carrying Benny on his shoulders to ease the toons nerves as they entered the shopping center.

Past the threshold Benny's eyes were wide with amazement, the entire area was decorated with lights of all colors and large orbs with different patterns. Something called garland (as Allison described it) was wrapped around nearly every pole and lined many of the shops. What really astonished him was all the people, it was a sea of people going to and from the shops carrying their purchases like cherished possessions. Benny also noticed that no one seemed to look at him at all, it's like he wasn't there. He had gotten used to people giving him strange looks and while he didn't show it, it was something that always nagged him at the back of his mind that he was different from everyone else. Realizing that he wasn't the center of attention or the topic of whispers made him relax as he gently clung to the top of Toms head.

Tom and Allison wandered towards the back of the center where it was much quieter and away from the mainstream shops, entering the small business district. Both of them strolling from store front to store front, gawking at the decor and items the shops had to offer, eventually stopping at a quiet shop that sold knick-knacks and a household decorum. Benny wiggled on Toms shoulders looking into the window eyeing the simple yet intricate ornaments that hung on a Christmas tree within. Taking that a a sign of interest from the toon, the trio entered the shop.

The elderly shop owner welcomed them as the entered and asked if they were looking for anything in particular, his eyes lingering briefly on Benny before returning his attention to Tom and Allison. Allison told him that they were looking for Christmas ornaments for their tree and expressed an interest in seeing what he had to offer. The old man motioned toward the tree that Benny had been eyeing and told them to take a gander at the ornaments, and to pick out any that they were interested in. They thanked him and wandered to the tree to see the different sample ornaments.

Benny stared at the ornaments in silent admiration, each and every ornament was completely unique. He had grown annoyed that all the other shops had basic glass or plastic balls with no sense of originality, the only things that set them apart was color or pattern. He carefully extended a hand and cupped a silver Teardrop ornament decorated in red holly berry and green leaves, completely taken in by its simplicity and it uniqueness. Tom nodded to Allison, she gently turned the tag on the ornament and jotted down the name on a small note pad. 

Tom ultimately set Benny down and let the toon slowly and carefully look at the ornaments on the tree taking great care to not handle too many of them. If he wanted to fully examine an ornament he asked the shop owner if he may get a better look much to the surprise of the old man whom happily obliged. Benny selected a wide variety of tear drop, lampshade, chandelier, egg shaped, indented round ornaments, and only 1 set of regular round ornaments. Each type he picked out were a wide range of colors, and all of them glass. He detested the plastic ornaments.

Allison presented the list of ornaments they desired as the old man collected their box sets one by one. He even threw in a free set for making a good sized purchase, and for the 'well behaved little boy'. Benny chuckled and blushed while Tom paid for the ornaments and the group said their 'thank yous' and 'good-byes' as they departed. 

Once they were out of eyesight Benny opened his coat revealing the stitches that spanned the length of his stomach, a injury dealt to him from Joey's attempt at killing him. He reached down and slid his fingers between the folds of the cut and started to pull, stretching the threads that held his stomach together. Both hands on the upper and lower portion of his stomach, he opened it to reveal a gaping maw, strongly resembling a second mouth. It was a unique trait that really separated Benny from Bendy. Bendy lacked hammerspace due to being to warped by the events of the studio and relied more on his demonic strenth, while Benny was able to use his stuffed-animal like body to internalize his hammerspace within the injury to his stomach. 

With the hammerspace now opened up Benny carefully slid the boxes containing the Christmas ornaments within himself, one by one. The group was thankful that the boxes were relatively small and were able to rest within Benny easily. 

Allison checked off her list as they floated from shop to shop collecting small decorations letting Benny pick out what he wanted. She was thankful that he liked simple things, and didn't just grab the first thing he saw. For all the small items Benny offered to store within himself, while the larger items Tom and Allison both carried. Tom didn't let Benny carry too much cause no one within the group, not even Benny himself, knew how much he could carry within his hammerspace without hurting himself. Satisfied at their haul in the mall, the trio hit a local eatery to grab lunch before resuming their errands.

Benny was quietly snoozing in the back seat as they pulled onto a dirt road, the bumpy road jostling the toon out of his nap. "W-Where are we?" he quietly moaned hubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

"A Christmas tree farm." Tom hummed from the drivers seat.

Benny carefully slid out of his seat belt and crawled between the front seats, sliding into Allison's lap. She protested briefly but ended up hanging onto the now excited toon as they neared the farm, he eyes lit up as seeing all the different trees. Allison laughed at how the plushtoom went from sleepy to instant energetic in such a short span of time, she only wished he was like that on a regular day.

Allison hung onto Benny as soon as they pulled into the lot and she opened the door, keeping the excited demon from dashing off. She gently set him down holding onto his hand and the trio walked into the entrance of the farm. A large heavy set man happily greeted them with a loud booming voice that spooked Benny enough to run under Allison's coat clinging to her leg like a koala hidden from view. The man took it as the 'young boy' being shy and showed the group on in, Allison treading carefully now that she had a leg weight, silently wishing he clung to Tom, but at the same time thankful he didn't weigh too much.

The jolly salesman showed Tom and Allison around as they looked over different types of trees and the different sizes available. Benny all the while still hiding under Allison's coat occasionally peering out to look at a tree before the salesman would turn his attention to him, which would make him hide all over again. The mans girth would giggle when he burst into laughter every time he would catch the toon looking at him and then hiding again. The couple ultimately decided to get a small Fraser fir tree, it had a nice uniform shape with rich green leaves and smelled divine. The salesman offered to either cut it down, or sell it and its pot, Benny whimpered at the offer of it being cut down so Tom decided to purchase it live.

Since Tom only had a car, The salesman told them that they offer free local delivery within the day and a small fee if it is out of a set range. Allison gave them their name, number, and address so they would know where to deliver the tree and was thankful it was well within the free range, and that they would see it later that evening. Just as they were about leave, Benny shyly poked his head out from between Allison's coat and mumbled a small 'Thank you' to the salesman whom broke into a loud joyous laughter before he knelt down to say 'you're welcome little man' to the hiding toon.

The group piled back into the car and started to head home, Allison checking her wallet to see what their overall expenses for the day were. She was shocked at the figures, she had gone off the stereotypical 'children are expensive' commentary she heard from parents and figured Benny would be the same, he was the exact opposite. He picked out reasonably priced items and kept his choices very small in comparison to actual human children. It warmed her heart that the toon was very conscious about other peoples financial well-being.

Allison leaned over and whispered in Tom's ear and he smiled taking a little detour in their trip home. They pulled into a more secluded section of their community, parking the car alongside a large assisted living home. It wasn't far from their home, only about a 5 minute walk.

Allison reached into the backeat to wake Benny who had dozed off again on the way back from the tree farm. He opened his eyes and recognized his surroundings getting out of the car all grins with renewed energy. He was instantly greeted by one of the elderly women known as Mae that lived at the home as she picked the toon up and carried him inside with Tom and Allison right behind her.

Benny was brought into a massive living room that had little division between it, a dinning room, and the kitchen. He set his coat and hat down and was instantly greeted by other elderly women, all of them taking turns passing the toon around all hugging and kissing him. When Allison and Tom both had to work where they would be gone for a day or two, they would ask the local nursing home to care for Benny. The toon was like a grandson to the women and for some, a grandchild they never had.

Each woman lavished him with affection until they finished passing Benny around, all eagerly looking at him as the oldest of them all slowly approached him with a box in hand. Benny stilled as he waited for her approach. The elder dark skinned woman was slow and shaky, but it didn't stop her from stooping slightly to wrap the toon in a one arm hug.

"It is so nice to see you sweetie." She softly spoke while she hugged him as tight as she could.

"It's nice to see you too Grandma Louise." Benny gently returning the hug, standing on his toes to keep her from bending over too far.

Grandma Louise slowly broke the hug and held out the small box she had in her hand. Benny carefully took the box from her and looked up at her, she nodded her head giving him the 'go-ahead' to open the parcel.

Benny delicately opened the box being careful not disturb it's wrapping too much and froze when he saw what was contained within. He carefully pulled out a handcrafted Christmas ornament that looked like a miniature version of himself, it even had a small date embroidered on it as to the year he was created.

"All of us made it together." Grandma Louise smiled as she gestured to the rest of the elderly ladies all of them smiling warmly at him. The 'local grandmas' and many referred to them, was a small group of 5 elderly women in the local nursing home that often would make gifts by means of sweaters, quilts, scarfs, etc... They were all seamstress and loved the little stitched demon, they were even teaching him how to sew different patterns, how to make his own toys and even clothing. 

Benny had large inky tears as he hugged grandma Louise, he was overjoyed and couldn't describe his happiness is proper words, devolving into making happy squeaky toy noises instead. The other grandmas taking turns hugging the toon as he regained his voice thanking them all profusely.

Another one of the grandmas simply known as just 'Grandma', handed Benny a 'Royal Dansk Danish butter cookie' tin and whispered for him to enjoy it later. Tom eyeballed the tin and made mental note to ask Benny for a few cookies later. Benny hugged and thanked her before Allison suggested they get going. The grandmas hugged the trio, all of them taking turns thanking them and promising to visit again soon. Benny collected his coat and hat as they waved good-bye and piled back into the car and resumed their trip home.

Back at the house Tom unpacked the car and carried all the bags inside while Allison opened up the door for him, with Benny right behind carrying some of the smaller boxes. They set the bags and boxes on the couch and all of them sat down to take a short breather. 

Their break was short lived when they got a phone call alerting them that the tree delivery was on their way with their tree. Allison cleared a corner in the living room and laid out a rug so when the tree arrived it had a spot ready to go. Once the tree arrived Tom helped the crew carefully bring it in, while it wasn't the largest tree in the world it still ate a lot of the doorway and hallway as they moved it to the living room, plus it's pot certainly wasn't helping matters. Benny stayed out of sight all the while they were wrestling with the stubborn Fir. They set the tree down in it's respective spot, Thomas paid the crew for their troubles and signed the delivery invoice. With the crew now gone, Benny came out of his hiding spot and joined Tom in the living room while Allison went into the kitchen.

"Now that the tree is in place lets set up the lights." Tom smiled at Benny. He happily agreed as they opened up the boxes containing the lights. Strand by strand Tom and Benny wrapped the tree in lights, Tom muttering about feeling like he was lighting up time square with the amount of strands they were going through. Despite the size of the tree Allison insisted on having lots of lights. Tom had to keep Benny from plugging them in saying that you 'save the best part for last'.

Allison chuckled as she watched the man and toon wrap the tree from the kitchen. She had pulled her doughs back out of the fridge and resumed her baking spree. The house full of the smells of cookies and pine from the tree.

Once the tree was completely wrapped, Tom admired their handiwork before bending down to pick Benny up. "Remember the ornament the grandma's gave you?" Benny nodded in Toms arms. "Well that ornament goes on the tree after the star is put on. It is the first ornament that is hung and the rest follow." Tom gestured to the top of the tree.

Benny reached inside his hammerspace and pulled out the 'star' as Tom called it, but to him it didn't look like the typical stars he saw in the markets earlier in the day. The 'star' was almost pole like with 2 spheres with a large indentation in each sphere. It was brightly colored with intricate patterns dancing on the outside as well as within the indents.

Tom lifted Benny up high enough to reach the top of the tree so Benny could carefully slide the star on top.

"Now for the grandmas ornament." Tom smiled lowering Benny slightly. 

He reached within his hammerspace again and pulled out the box containing his ornament. He gently pulled it out of its box and hung it on the tree near the star. Tom set Benny down and watched as Tom fished out two different boxes from a tote he pulled out of the garage earlier, and opened them up. He pulled out two different ornaments a teddy bear and a koala, each with different years engraved on them and hung both the ornaments next the Benny's.

"What are those?" Benny asked as he pointed to the unfamiliar ornaments that were just hung.

"Those are my and Allison's first Christmas ornaments." Tom grinned as he looked at Benny.

"First Christmas?" Benny tilted his head.

"Yep." Tom reached back down and picked Benny up so he could see the ornaments better "See when a family has a child, the first thing they do for Christmas is get a ornament that represents that child's first Christmas and the year they were born" he pointed at the year engraved on his teddy bear ornament "this was the year I was born." then his finger drifted to the koala ornament "and this was the year Allison was born." he hand now resting under Benny's ornament "and this year, you were born."

"Ornaments representing the family are always put near the top while ornaments that represent friends, or life events go all around the tree." Allison chimed in holding a tray of cookies. 

Benny glanced at the 3 ornaments on the tree and the closeness shared between. Family. The 3 of them, like the ornaments, are a family. He made a happy noise as he hugged Tom. Allison and Tom considered him family, the toon felt a warmth in his chest as he couldn't have been happier.

"All right little guy, can you get me the rest of the ornaments so we can finish up the tree?" Tom chuckled in Benny's hold.

The toon nodded and hopped down opening up his stomach hammerspace pulling out the ornament boxes one by one until he retrieved them all closing his stomach back up. Tom always thought it was amazing how the toon utilized the unfortunate injury to his advantage and continues to use it to help out as best he can. 

Tom and Benny took half an hour carefully 'decorating' the tree as they liked to call it. To Allison it looked a controlled chaos of colors and shapes from the different ornaments. She urged them to take a break and enjoy some milk and cookies before decorating the rest of the house.

"Oh yeah... Hey Benny." Benny looked up at Tom as he shoveled a cookie into his mouth. "Why don't you open up that cookie tin you got from the grandmas."

Benny nodded and pulled out the tin in question from the hammerspace and opened it with Tom eagerly looking over his shoulder, dead panning upon seeing it's contents.

Within the cookie tin was a carefully made sewing kit, 4 small dividers had been glued within the tin and each divider contained different things. One had buttons of various sizes and colors. The second had small spool of different color thread. The third had a small push pin cushion with pins and several sewing needles in it, and the forth one had a small pair scissors and a seam ripper. Benny was absolutely elated at getting such a useful and thoughtful gift. Tom on the other hand was thoroughly disappointed and yet and the same time wasn't completely surprised by the true contents of the tin, after all what grandma doesn't have a cookie tin sewing kit?

Benny eagerly ran to his room to put the tin away and while he was gone Allison gave Tom a few cookies to cheer the depressed man up. By the time Tom and Benny had started to decorate the house, Allison had finished up baking the last of the cookies and joined the in the festivities. 

Tom volunteered to start setting up the lights outside while Allison and Benny decorated the interior of the home. A large red and black cloth was draped around the mantle with 3 stockings hug from it. The counter that divided the living room and hallway had a red cloth draped over with a black candle centerpiece paired by 2 red and black plaid reindeer on each side. Soft white Christmas lights were strung inside on the ceiling, outlining the hallways and living room providing a soft warm light. The tree had yet to be plugged in as they waited for Tom to finish up stringing lights outside.

Allison returned to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate as Benny slipped outside to help Tom. The poor toon got wrapped up in the lights and was accidentally hung with them. Tom doubled over laughing as he freed the distressed demon who was convinced the lights were out to get him. Benny spent the rest of the evening holding the ladder for Tom and stayed far away from the strands of lights, chuckling at Tom's occasional grumbling of the sheer quantity of the brightly lit cords.

With the lights strung and Benny clinging to Tom, they finished up with the lights and were immediately welcomed with a mug of hot chocolate piled high with marshmallows and 2 cookies each upon returning to the house. Both man and toon hummed happily while they sat at the couch in the living room sipping their respective drinks and munching on the cookies. Allison waltzed past them and finally plugged in the Christmas tree which made Benny's eyes sparkle in wonder. Allison chuckled at how entranced the plushdemon was as she curled up next to Tom sipping on her own hot cocoa as the three of them silently admired the Christmas tree.

Evening bleed into night and Benny ended up curling up in Toms lap passed out from all the days excitement. Tom smiled warmly as he carefully scooped up the little plushdemon and carried him off to bed. Making sure Tom had Benny long out of earshot, Allison hopped on the phone talking to their upcoming guests and ironing out the plans for the morrow.

Tom returned to the living to see Allison on the phone, she occasionally would give him the thumbs up as she called each and every person on their guest list, everyone was going to be able to make it, and everything was going according to plan. Both Allison and Tom smiled at each other as they both were looking forward to what tomorrow was going to bring.

\----------*Christmas Eve*--------------

Allison was up bright and early cooking in the kitchen as she spied a green SUV coming up the road to the house. She dried her hands with a towel before she opened up the door to greet her very early guest. 

The SUV pulled up and parked along side the house and the driver and front passenger side swung open. A small black and white figure darted out of the vehicle and ran up to Allison attaching itself to her leg beaming up at her with a wide smile. "Good Morning Allison and Merry Christmas!" 

"Hi Bendy, Merry Christmas to you too." Allison chuckled as she reached down and petted the toon demon. Unlike Benny, Bendy was monochrome and was completely on model. Bendy the dancing demon was the star character of Joey Drew Studios and was a true toon and a ink demon, he was completely made of ink unlike Benny who was only partial. Bendy once roamed the halls of the studio that created him as a warped monster that barely retained his original appearance, killing and dragging anything within his grasp to the bowels of the ink. After the events and horrors of the studio, Bendy came to his senses and was restored to how he was meant to be, the little devil darling. Now having Benny as his counterpart, the two demons treated each other like estranged siblings, best friends and rivals.

Bendy slipped away from Allison and stood in the center of the front walkway cracking his knuckles with a maniacal eager grin across his face. His ink rose and bubbled as the toon seemed to be melting as his body expanded, the white portions of his body long gone as they were swallowed by black. Bendy took on a massive figure over 10' tall with a enormous head sporting large curved horns and a grin full of sharp teeth. His legs now useless as they dangled under his large torso as he stood on the knuckles of his enormous hands attached to long muscular arms and massive shoulders. Bendy had transformed into his infamous 'Beast form', a form that a few of the survivors of the studio knew all to well, especially Henry when he had no choice but to face his demon. 

He inhaled sharply and let out a deafening guttural roar that made everything nearby rattle from the sheer volume. Allison quickly covering her ears from the sound but she could feel her chest heave from the concussive roar. She however wasn't completely mad at Bendy since this was his form of 'Hello', and the fact he made sure to stand a good distance from her as to not cause any severe discomfort from the volume. The booming challenge which was answered by another higher pitched roar that emanated from within the house. The response roar was reminiscent of a nails being dragged on chalkboard or metal scraping metal, not quite as loud or as rattling at Bendy's challenge but still a sound that would make many question why they would be standing there listening instead of running. Bendy lacking any visible eyes stood there, his toothy grin grew wider in anticipation.

Benny emerged through the door looking like a over grown rag doll that was loosely held together. He stood slightly over 7' as his left arm was completely detached from his shoulder and was only held on by loose threads. His left hand that was also severed from the arm and hung by similar loose threads as he was cracking his knuckles. His right arm wasn't nearly as mangled as his left as he only has stitching on his elbow. Despite the stitching he had on his leg, unlike his arms, was nice and taught so it couldn't come undone. What really made Benny frightening was the large gaping maw that spanned his stomach, loose stitching didn't even hold the maw closed as it was lined with large white teeth. His face had ink dripping on his right side while the stitching on the left half of his face had been pulled open with a large singular black eye with a yellow iris looking dead at his counterpart. His grin while already wide, stretched wider as he sized up Bendy.

Both demons were quiet for mere seconds before Benny threw his arms, stretching the threads that held them together long enough to grab a hold of 2 nearby trees. He grinned as he used his stretched out arms to launch himself like a slingshot towards Bendy's face with his right hand balled into a fist ready to strike. He was well aware of the fact that Bendy was blind in his other forms and that he wouldn't see him coming.

Bendy's continuous low gurgling acted like echolocation for the blind demon as the few noises and the disturbances Benny was creating in the bounced back images told him that Benny was coming in to strike. Bendy ducked just in time as Benny just cleared over him, he grinned until he felt a large gloved hand catch the spines that ran along his back. Benny retracted the excess threads and he clung to Bendy's back grabbing him by his horns. Bendy bucked and bounded like a angry mare trying to ditch it's rider, each buck gradually loosening up the threads that held Benny together. As soon as Benny was thrown off Bendy far enough, Bendy's large hand shot out from under him and grabbed Benny slamming him on the ground. Bendy was on him immediately play biting as Benny wrestled to get out from under him. Benny used his legs to sweep Bendy's hand out from under him sending him crashing face first onto the floor next to Benny. Benny shooting his bigger counterpart a victorious grin. 

Bendy in pure spite, rolled over on top of Benny using his arm and shoulder to press the stitched devil into the ground, resulting in a deep garbled squeaky toy like noise. Bendy let out a small noise that almost sounded like 'oops' as he returned the victorious grin , standing up to admire the mini crater his counterpart was in. It was short lived as Benny grabbed Bendy's horns again and tripped him up sending both demons rolling.

While the two demons rough housed with each other, Henry stepped out of the car laughing at the ball of horns, teeth and claws that went bouncing by. The older man had salt and chestnut hair, tanned skin, and had a world weary air about him. He smiled at Allison whom greeted him with open arms.

"Hey Angel, long time no see and Merry Christmas." Henry wrapped Allison in a big papa bear hug.

"Hey old man Merry Christmas to you too." She giggled playing with his salt and chestnut hair.

"I'm not that old." Henry shot Allison a playful glare before he turned to watch the two demons playing. “It's a good thing that you live in a quiet neighborhood and a good distance from the rest of the neighbors. If those two did that in my area I would have the police at my door like the local members of the church.”

“I only have to worry about the nursing home that is nearby and the 'local grandmas' were already made aware yesterday that Bendy was coming, and that they would be making a lot of noise during their 'play period' so I already had that covered.” She chuckled, joining Henry in watching the demonic ball come rolling to a halt as Bendy pushed Benny into the ground.

Bendy sat on top of Benny and pinned his limbs with his hands, lowering his head he gurgled " **uNcLe?** " as the demon flashed a row of sharp teeth, his mouth turned up in a triumphant grin. He knew full well he won this round as Benny lacked the physical strength to push him off of him, let alone to try and sweep his arms out again.

Benny groaned under Bendy's weight and was thoroughly pinned " **uNcLe**." 

Bendy grinned as he lifted himself off Benny and lowered his head offering his horn so Benny could grab onto helping to lift him up. Both demons smiled at each other as ink sloshed off Bendy in waves his size rapidly getting smaller and smaller, flashes of white was slowly starting to show under the rain of ink. Benny's maw of his stomach closed up briefly and then opened again expelling all the excess ink within the body like black vomit as his stitches were pulling themselves tighter and tighter, the fabric of his body shrinking down to normal size. With all the excess ink gone and somehow dissipating into floor leaving no trace of it ever been there, what remained were two child sized cartoon devils. Both gave each other a hug and happily chatted, catching up on their more recent adventures talking a mile a minute.

"All right you two, inside." Henry called out to the two toons and they both dashed past him towards the house. Henry could only chuckle at seeing how excited the little devils were at seeing each other, they didn't get to see each other very often except when both Henry and Allison had a few days off from work. Tom finally exited the house barely dodging the two black blurs of the toons as they ran around him inside.

"Well look at what the little devil dragged in." Tom joked at seeing Henry standing next to Allison, his arms crossed leaning against the doorway as he sized up the older animator.

"A far cry better then being the devil." Henry shot back grinning.

"Well you sure ain't no Angel either." Tom retorted back flashing a grin of his own,leaving the doorway and walking up to Henry.

"No that's your wife, and she keeps the devil in check."

"True, but I didn't create a mini Devil."

"I only created and drew him, you threw the switch to bring him to life."

"Touche`."

Both men sized each other up before they both burst into laughter and gave each other a hug.

"Missed ya you old coot, and Merry Christmas." Tom patted Henry on the back.

"Like wise little turd, Merry Christmas to you too." Henry returning the gesture.

"Here let me help you unpack." Tom broke the hug and walked over to Henry's trunk of the SUV to help him unload with Henry right behind him. Henry opened up the trunk letting Tom grab 2 day packs throwing them over his shoulder and pulling out a small cooler.

Allison raised a brow at the cooler in her husband's hand as she joined the two men "What's with the cooler?"

"Well I packed the steaks and roast in the cooler since they need to be kept cold and I already cooked the roast, it just needs to be re-heated. I also brought 2 extra boxes of groceries in the trunk. Oh! And all the gifts are on the back passenger seats." Henry pointed to the car. He went to the back passenger side of his SUV and pulled out several brightly wrapped presents. Allison reached in the truck pulling out the boxes of groceries that were carefully tucked to the side, she was astonished at what he managed to bring to contribute to the party as she fingered through the boxes contents. Henry was gonna spend the weekend with them and she told him he didn't have to bring much, but being a honest man and thankful for the invitation Henry brought far more then what she asked for.

"Thanks Henry." Allison briefly hugged him again before hefting the 2 boxes of food, chuckling at the canned veggies, noodles, cereal, and pastries. She knew all to well the appetites of toons especially since she had one living with her, how they were able to eat enough to constitute a full grown adult despite their physical size, no one knows. The only differences between Bendy and Benny is that Benny would eat his veggies and fruits happily with no fuss, Bendy preferred sweets and would pout when given vegetables instead. With what Henry brought was more then enough stave off both the little demons appetites, and to help with the food bill for the weekend.

The group made their way into the house with Allison going into the kitchen to put the food away while Tom showed Henry to the guest room. The two demons were sitting on the living room floor playing Monopoly with Bendy acting like a total destitute and Benny acting like a fat cat, even going so far as to pull out a fake monocle and somehow place it on his face. He had no nose to support it yet somehow it stayed, it was a toon thing. Bendy playfully scowled at his counterpart until their game was interrupted when they were called into the kitchen to help with the food preparation.

The kitchen was a buzz with chopping of ingredients, stirring of pots and clattering of pans as Tom, Allison and Henry were cooking in the kitchen. It was a bit crowded with the 3 adults all stepping over each other while they were all preparing different meals, but it was easier when they were able to have the toons dart around and get the the ingredients they needed. The kitchen was full of all sorts of delicious smells as one by one the items were pulled from the conventional oven and the stove. Times like these made Allison thankful she had a smaller conventional oven plus her regular stove and oven. The group took small breaks to eat here and there since they hadn't the time to eat a proper breakfast. More then once Allison had to smack Tom's hands away from the freshly baked pies and chase Bendy away from the cookie jar. To a point she contemplated kicking both of the out of the Kitchen, but settled on making Tom wash the dished to keep his wandering hands out of things and to have Bendy help Benny in peeling apples for stewed apples.

A knock at the door and the ringing of the bell caught the chef trio's attention, neither adult was able to answer the door as Henry was grilling the steaks, Tom was washing dishes, and Allison had a cake in hand.

"Benny and Bendy can you both get that please, and don't open the door if you don't recognize them." Tom chimed in from his position at the kitchen sink.

"Ok." Both demons approached the door, Benny hopped up on Bendy's shoulders peering through the peephole and saw a familiar face. He jumped down and threw open the door absolutely elated at who had arrived.

"Norman, Wally, Sammy!" Both toons shouted as they leaped into the groups arms. Benny surgically attached himself to Norman's chest awhile Bendy wrapped himself around Wally's legs nearly toppling the man. Both men laughing as they returned the hugs to their respective demons. Sammy chuckling in amusement and was silently thankful he didn't get the same treatment. His brief appreciation for the lack of attention didn't last long before both Benny and Bendy crashed into him, Benny wrapped around his neck and Bendy around his legs. The 2 hit combo was a K.O for Sammy as he lost his balance from the surprise hugs and fell to the floor cursing up a storm.

"I know that range of profanity anywhere." Allison laughed, approaching the door to welcome the new arrivals.

"Merry Christmas. It's nice t' be seein' ya again Mrs. Allison." Norman tipped his cap and gently hugged her.

"Merry Christmas to you too Norman." she smiled breaking the embrace, looking up at the dark skinned man. Norman was a cherished friend and her sounding board when she needed extra encouragement and support. He was one of Benny's first friends and did everything within his power to support the toon.

"Thanks for having us over Allison and Merry Merry as well." Wally grinned as he approached after Norman stepped off to the side letting the him through.

"Merry, Merry to you as well and you're welcome anytime Wally." She hugged the slightly heavyset man. The curly headed former Janitor was at times a trouble maker for all of them, but there was no malice in his mischief. 

Allison chuckled while she looked down at her former boss Sammy Lawrence. The tall irate blond was still trying to pry the two devils off of him who were overjoyed to see him. Clearly getting nowhere in his efforts since Benny had his arms around Sammy's neck and his legs around his chest like a koala. Bendy had both arms and legs around Sammy's legs, the combination of the two little demons made Sammy look like a very angry living mummy on the ground.

"All right you two, you can let him go now." Allison tried not to laugh as she helped pry the demons off Sammy. She knew full well that when together, Benny and Bendy were both equally mischievous, and Sammy was their favorite target since he was often easily riled up. The two demons attaching themselves to Sammy was their own way of harassing the man since he wasn't one for physical contact.

Sammy abruptly stood up now released from demonic bondage, brushing himself off before turning to Allison "Merry Christmas. It's a pleasure to see you again Mrs. Connor." as he took her hand and firmly shook it. Allison scoffed at his gesture and wrapped him in a hug initially startling the man before he relaxed and returned the hug chuckling. Sammy was always one for formalities, but for the sake of the holiday he was willing to make an exception. He shot small glares over Allison shoulders at the two little devil who were both looking up at him with a mischievous glint in their eyes. He nearly feared that if he broke the hug Allison was giving him that he be subjected to the demonic restraints again.

"All right gentlemen lets go inside where the others are waiting." Allison gestured to the open door, turning to usher Benny and Bendy back inside and away from Sammy. Both demons whined a bit since they wanted to harass Sammy a bit more, but went back inside to resume their game since they were finished up with the chores in the kitchen. Sammy breathing a small sigh in relief that the little toon devils were gone.

"Wait a bit, we got stuff to get first." Norman held up his hand and pointed to the van they carpooled in. 

Allison chuckled as the three men turned and headed to the car to pull out boxes upon boxes wrapped in bright colors and patterns. Norman and Wally were carrying stacks of presents and bags fulls of gifts carefully slipping their respective towers of gifts through the door. Sammy followed them with a two gift bags and an additional cooler topped with a bag of groceries.

"Norman and Wally covered most of the gifts. I did get them a little something, but I mostly left it to them. I also brought more food along with drinks since the little devil bra- I mean darlings eat a lot, but don't worry I didn't bring any alcohol since there are 'children present'." Sammy lifted the bag slightly and smiled.

"Thanks Sammy, the more the merrier." Allison took the bag from him and followed him inside, promptly setting the food in the kitchen.

Norman and wally carefully set the pile of gifts around and under the tree then joined in on Benny and Bendy's game of monopoly. Much to their dismay, Benny continued to be reigning champ as he was steadily driving Bendy and his 2 new opponents into bankruptcy. Wally was first to bite the bankrupt bullet and was 'outta there', shocked at how fast, and merciless Benny took him out. Norman managed to hang on for quite sometime, but unfortunately landing on one of Bendy's properties resulted in his removal from the game. Benny owned most of the board and had multiple houses on several properties and the constant landing on his properties rapidly widdled away at the groups finances. Bendy owned fewer properties but had hotels built on them and landing on any of them resulted in much larger financial hits.

Sammy made himself comfortable on the couch watching the spectacle of the groups board game, until both Henry and Tom grabbed him and dragged the defiant former musical director into the kitchen. Kicking Allison out saying she 'needed a break and let the guys take over'. Sammy made a huge fuss complete with the over dramatic whining as Henry sat him down and handed him a potato peeler and a basket of potatoes for potato salad. A stern look from the older former animator shut Sammy right up as he quietly mumbled in his corner peeling potatoes.

Norman sat on the couch and laughed as Benny finally ran Bendy bankrupt proceeding to gloat about his victory which was short lived. Bendy tackled him and both devils rolled around the ground wrestling with each other. It soon became less of Bendy trying to get payback on Benny, but more of a 'lets play cause I'm bored' when they were laughing while they were rough housing. While Bendy was much stronger then Benny in his beast form, in his normal toon form both toons were equally matched. Though at times Benny had advantage since he can pull himself apart and put himself back together quickly, often surprising Bendy at how he was able to do that. The rolling ball of horns bumped into Norman and Benny scaled him like a ladder with Bendy right behind. Norman yelped as he soon found himself a jungle gym as the little demons crawled about him chasing each other like squirrels on a tree. Allison and Wally devolved into laughing as they watched Norman feebly try and fend off the playing toons, neither of them offering the former projectionist any assistance in exorcising him of the demons.

Only the ringing of the doorbell was Norman's saving grace as the toons stopped climbing him and ran excitedly to see who their new guest was. Norman looked over at the other rooms occupants shaking his head, stepping around the coffee table to open the door since both Allison and Wally were disposed of from their laughing fits, and was greeted by another dark haired woman two heads shorter then himself.

"Well look who's 'ere, Merry Christmas Ms. Cambell." as Norman waved her inside. Susie gently hugged Norman before he led her inside taking her bags from her, setting them aside.

"Merry Christmas." both Benny and Bendy grinned up at the woman. Susie smiled at them and wrapped both toons in a brief hug ruffling her fingers through both toons horns. "Merry Christmas. It's nice to see you little devils as well." Susie chuckled.

"Glad you could make it." a voice hummed from the couch. Susie turned her attention to the source of the voice seeing Allison sitting on the couch now composing herself. The two woman just looked at each other and the two toons slowly stepped away both worried about the sudden silence. It wasn't a secret that Susie openly hated Allison when they were at the Studio. She did everything in her power to try and ruin Allison but after Allison made sure to rescue Susie and not leave her behind despite how much Susie had wronged her. The former Alice Angel actress lightened up considerably and apologized for her past transgressions towards Allison.

Allison slowly stood up from the couch setting aside her drink as both woman stood facing each other seemingly sizing each other up. The tension in the air was so think a knife would break trying to cut it. Both Bendy and Benny were contemplating getting another adult to assist on the off chance that the two women would get into a confrontation. The tension rapidly dissolved as both women embraced each other.

"It's been awhile." Allison hugged Susie tightly.

"I know, I've been busy shooting a movie." Susie smiled. "I was surprised to get your call, I didn't know you had my number."

"Oh a golden birdie told me." Allison nodding slightly towards the kitchen. "But never mind that tell me how you've been".

Both women wandered off towards the kitchen happily chatted to each other about their jobs, now both of them actresses as they had different parts in various upcoming films. After the horrors of the Studio was put behind them Susie kept a bit of distance out of sheer guilt for her actions, even though everyone told her she was under the influence of the cursed ink just like how Sammy was. 

They approached the kitchen and saw quite an amusing sight, Sammy had devolved into a curled up ball in the corner while Henry and Tom were juggling Pots and pans. The two men holding the former musician captive and were making him do menial tasks while they handled all the larger chores. Susie floated over to the ball known as Sammy, and gave him a small peck on the cheek. Suddenly Sammy had renewed vigor, and physical appearance, as he excused himself from the corner taking up a position at the sink washing up dishes with Susie joining him.

Allison could only sit back and smile at the controlled chaos her house had suddenly become. Her husband Tom the former lead GENT worker and former lead animator and co-founder of Joey Drew Studios Henry Stein both laughing as they were finishing up with the steaks, roast, turkey and ham. Sammy the former music department director and Susie the former actress of Alice Angel spending some quality time chatting while they washed and dried the dishes. Norman the former projectionist supervising Wally the former Janitor, Bendy the dancing demon and ink demon, and Benny the stitched demon as the group forgot the monopoly board and started playing 'Go Fish' on the coffee table.

"Are you gonna play with us?" Benny chimed from his spot on the floor looking up at Allison with pleading eyes.

"Sure sweetie." Allison took a seat next to Norman on the couch and was given a small handful of cards from Bendy.

"Are you gonna play too Norman?" Bendy looked at him questionably.

Norman glanced down at the little ink demon seeing his eyes sparkle as he poured on the puppy eyes. Benny soon joined him and he had two sets of pie cut puppy eyes. Right as he was about to give his answer Wally joined in, and at his age it was a bit disturbing. He had planned on simply watching the toons since Allison wasn't around initially, but now that she was joining in on their game along with Wally, all eyes were on him as they hoped he would join in.

Letting out a dramatic sigh imitating Sammy, Norman threw his hand over his eyes leaning back into the couch holding out his hand "Oh, If I must."

"Yay!" Both demons cheered, Benny got up and handed Norman a stack of cards. 

Allison lightly elbowed him in the rib cage "Drama queen.” knowing full well who Norman was imitating. 

"I couldn't resist, 'sides that whole drama queen is Sammy's job." Norman laughed out.

"Now who is drama queen Mr. Norman Polk?" Norman's laughter cut short looking over to see the drama queen in question tapping his foot against the floor angrily with his arms crossed, and a single brow raised high.

"Now Sammy ya know we all love ya, and it's in good fun. Now stop bein' a sour puss and join in on the game." Norman holding out a small stack of cards.

Wally got up from his chair and walked over to Sammy gently pushing the protesting musician into the living room while Norman handed him a portion of the cards. Wally sat Sammy down in a spare chair while both Bendy and Benny sat on either side of Sammy grinning up at him, each with a mischievous look in their eye. Sammy make a small meek noise as he realized he was stuck between two little devils and had no escape route since both Norman and Allison were opposite of him sitting on the couch with a knowing expression on both their faces. He'd been set up, and was now at the demon's tender mercies. Susie stood in the door way amused at her bosses unholy predicament, not offering a single finger to help him. 

"Don't get too excited in there kids." a gruff voice sounded from the kitchen doorway, the group turning its attention to see Tom standing there next to Susie also amused at the sight before him. "Dinner's ready." Tom pointed at the spread on the table just as Henry set the turkey down.

The party swiftly moved into the kitchen as they started grabbing seats. Henry helped Bendy up on a chair giving him a small stack of books and cushion to sit on since he was a bit too short to sit at the table. Allison helped Benny up on his chair sitting him between herself and Tom, Henry sat next to Tom with Bendy his right. Norman sat across from Allison with Wally to his right followed by Sammy and Susie. Allison was quietly thankful her table was just large enough to support 8 people.

No one really spoke except for asking a platter of various food items to be passed around on occasion. Their was a quaint tranquility, the room was filled with quiet hums of appreciation for the food. The two toons gorging themselves on the food nearly choking once or twice leaving Wally to tell them that no one was gonna take their plates from them. Sammy could only mumble the contemplation of removing their plates so he wouldn't have to watch '2 pint sized black holes' having a eating contest, resulting in getting kicked under the table by Henry and a glare from Tom. Sammy yelped from the kick but shut up for fear of 2 papa bears throttling him. The table bursting into laughter at the snap reaction of Sammy.

Everyone soon ate their fill with both Bendy and Benny eating the leftovers making everyone wonder where it goes considering the physical size of the 2 little demons. Allison pulled out a pineapple upside down cake, apple pie, and a huge tray of cookies while Sammy pulled out several bottles of non-alcoholic apple cider from his cooler. Henry pulled out a punch bowls worth of egg-nog from the fridge for which left Allison watching Tom like a hawk since she saw him with a bottle of rum, assuming he was gonna spike the drink. Thankfully Tom poured himself a cup of the nog and added a touch of rum for himself and Henry, he put the bottle away and relaxed on the couch as Benny sat on his lap eating a slice of cake while Bendy hopped on Henry's lap enjoying some cookies. Wally, with permission from Tom lit the fire in the fireplace filling the room with comfort and warmth as everyone chatted lightly and enjoyed the tranquility within the air.

Sammy floated over to Allison's piano and lightly tapped the keys testing it's sound. Satisfied with the quality of the tuning he pulled out the bench and sat down while Susie brought him a book of Christmas music. Both of them fingered through the book ultimately agreeing on a piece as Sammy's hand glided over the keys. After playing a few little light tunes Sammy decided to play some more classic Christmas music at a much louder tone, but first he desired some musical accompaniment. 

“Hey Benny, you can sing right?” Sammy looked over at the plushtoon as he finished up his cake. Benny nodded in acknowledgment, not quite sure where Sammy was going with his question. It wasn't a secret that Benny could sing quite well, since Allison used singing as a way of teaching him how to talk.

“And you Bendy?” Sammy turned his attention to the other toon. 

“Somewhat, Benny is better at singing then I am.” Bendy softly answered, also confused as to where Sammy was going with his questions. Bendy was more of a dancer then singer and already had developed speech upon birth unlike his counterpart.

“Allison and Susie, would you mind leading the little devils in a carol?” Sammy rifled through his bag next the bench and pulled out several copies of Christmas sing-along books. He got up from the piano bench and handed each toon a copy, and in turn both women a copy. Allison and Susie smiled at each other while they fingered through the books, each eager to have the toons join in on singing with them. Both toons looked at each other and at their respective human cushions in confusion as to what the purpose of the books were. Henry and Tom both chuckled at the confusion of the little demons.

Norman chuckled as he decided to fill in the toons on what was about to take place “See back 'n the day, people would sing Christmas carols as a form of not only entertainment, but also bondin'. It's a chance for everyone t' set aside differences and t' have a common thread that connects them all. It's what brings families together.”

“Christmas is supposed to be about family, not all families are the same, but at the end of the day family is family.” Wally chimed in from his spot by the fireplace stoking the fire.

Both Bendy and Benny looked at each other, yeah sure they were connected cause of the reasoning behind their creation, but what about everyone else does that make them family? Henry was Bendy's creator and animator, but would he have any connection to Benny since Benny was only a doll made in Bendy's image? Would Allison have any connection to Bendy since she rescued Benny and put him back together? Each toon could see how they were connected to those that cared for them, but wondered about everyone else, they were all former coworkers. 

Bendy was the first to speak as he looked at the rest of the room's occupants. “B-But...Does that make us family?” ink dripping of the side of his face slightly while he slowly wrung his gloved hands together. He knew to him Henry was like a dad cause he was his creator, and that Benny was sort of related cause he was made in his image and was a toon just like him.

Benny quickly followed “We don't look like you, we aren't human.” as he lowered his head slightly. The only one he knew he a had a connection with was Bendy, since he is a toon just like him. Allison was his rescuer and caretaker, but to him she was like a mom, but wasn't technically his mom since she didn't create him. Henry was a distant creator since Benny is patterned after Bendy, but even then the connection is very weak. 

The room growing silent as all the former coworkers looked at each other then back at the now depressed toons.

Henry smiled as he cupped Bendy's chin turning his head to face him, using his free hand to push the dripping ink back into place “Anyone can be considered family even if there is no blood connection. You don't have to look like the person or toon next to you, to be considered family.” Henry had already considered Bendy like his son even though he never called him such, the toon made him enjoy life again as his zeal for adventure was infectious to the aging animator. 

“What matters is we are all there for you through thick and thin. We love and support you through any decision you make and pick you up when you're down.” Tom gently rubbed his fingers between Benny's horns as Allison gently rubbed his back. The couple deeply loved the plushtoon like he was their own kid, even though in theory he belongs to Henry since he was patterned after his creation Bendy. Henry told them that they should have Benny since Benny was rescued by them, and they were more like family to the little stuffed-demon then he was. The animator often making it a point of visiting on weekends, bringing his own toon demon so they could play and be themselves around those they were most comfortable with.

“Yeah we may not always get along, but we always come together.” Susie smiled as she held up her drink as if giving a toast. She wasn't as close to both demons, and during her stay at the studio Bendy hurt her deeply and she feared him. However after they were all set free and both toons were back to normal, their personalities were infectious and they grew on her. Bendy apologized to her many times for what he did and it took awhile for her to forgive him, but she did, chalking it up to 'cursed ink affecting his mind'. During her travels around the world she made it a point to occasionally send them souvenirs to show them places they may not always be able to visit, if at all.

Norman grinned and held up his drink as well “always there for you.” He loved both toons equally even though he got to know Benny first. In addition with Bendy killing him when he was trapped as an inky monster called 'The Projectionist' roaming the studio halls, it was what jump started his own road to recovery since the events that followed afterwards freed him of the ink. Norman loved the Bendy shorts and loved the two respective toons even more so. Throughout everything that happened, he felt that both toons grew up in their own respective ways, and was more then willing to drop everything to help them out if they were having any problems.

Wally smiled and held up his hot poker in cheers as well. He didn't know Benny as well as Bendy since he and Bendy were both mischievous in their own respective ways and at times partners in crime. His memories of the studio were vague since being subjected to being Susies/Alice Angel's play toy for a time, but he knew that with Henry's help and then later Bendy and Benny, he was 'Outta there'.

Sammy rolled his eyes briefly at how cheesy the group was becoming, but held up his music book and slipped a small grin as well. He was deeply embarrassed at how much the ink had warped his mind turning him into some Bendy obsessed prophet, but with Bendy and Benny's help, they freed him from his delusions along with the ink that he once called a body. Though he was still subject to playful digs at his former obsession from Henry who he was convinced was a devil of his own accord. Not counting the occasional relentless harassment from the 2 little toon devils, but at the end of the day it was their own method of playing with him and more then once he was willing to go along with the gag.

Both demons had big fat inky tears as they realized that together, this rag tag group of former coworkers with no connection to one another, other then their former workplace, are their family and will be there to support them and guide them through whatever may come their way. Each toon took turns as they went to each person and hugged them as tightly as they could, whispering small 'thank you's. Bendy accidentally transformed to his ink demon form, nearly hugging Henry to death while crying in pure joy. The former animator gently patting Bendy on his bony back trying to calm him down. Benny devolved into squeaky toy noises as he buried his face in Tom's chest, the man rubbing the toon's back with Allison humming 'Green Sleeves'. 

With everyone coaxing and taking turns petting the two demons, both toons calmed down considerably and were relaxing in their respective 'parent's arms. Sammy cleared his throat getting everyone's attention, he once again held up the carol book turning to a particular song as he eyed Allison and Susie. Both women smiled as they got up and gently pulled a little devil to them, Allison took Benny while Susie took Bendy. Each holding the book for the toons all turned to the same page, giving Sammy a small nod.

Before Sammy started to play, Allison told to 'wait a minute' and retrieved her guitar handing it to Tom whispering in his ear what they were going to play. Norman taking the addition of the guitar as his cue, he motioned for Wally to follow him as the two men went out to the van to retrieve Sammy's Banjo and violin. With the additional musical accompaniment of Tom on guitar, Norman on Banjo, and wally on violin, all the players nodded their heads. 

Taking that as his cue, Sammy turned around and let his fingers fly across the keys and he started to play 'Have and Holly Jolly Christmas'. Both Allison and Susie sang to their hearts content with both little toons doing their best to keep up with the song. The gentlemen in the room playing along, the group all sang out, spirits high and voices as one. Sammy swiftly followed up with 'Rockin' Round the Christmas Tree', 'Jingle Bells', 'Winter Wonderland' now entering more familiar territory for the toons as they sang louder with more confidence. Bendy even broke into a small tap dance going along with the song while Benny sang for the both of them. Nearly finished with the round of carols Sammy slowed the pace down with 'Hark! the Harold Angels Sing'. All the Men and the two toons stayed out of the last song leaving Allison and Susie as the sole singers, each woman bouncing off each other as they sang in unison, their voices supporting each other throughout the song. Once the song wrapped up everyone burst into cheers at the show of the two ladies, they briefly hugged each other laughing at their own performance.

Tom glanced up at the clock realizing it had grown quite late. “Hey Guys I think we should open presents now.” thumbing towards the clock, putting the guitar away.

There was a unanimous agreement within the room as all the adults started picking up various bags and boxes and all turned to face the toons in unison, Both Bendy and Benny looked at each other in confusion, and then to the adults as they all were looking at them. “What are you doing?” Bendy spoke up.

“See Bud, part of Christmas is presenting gifts to those you care about.” Henry bent down putting a hand on Bendy's shoulder “Here, I got this for you.” as he held out a box to Bendy.

Bendy looked at the box and then back at Henry “B-But I didn't get anything for you.” Worry and regret written all over the toons face.

Henry smiled “You are already a gift to me, more ways then you can imagine.” he hugged the little demon “ Now go on and open your present.” nudging the present into Bendy's hands.

Benny was about to say something when Allison placed a single finger over his mouth “Don't even say it. You are more then what we can ask for.” she handed him a bag. Tom and Allison both looking at Benny with a soft warm expression.

Both demons sat down and carefully started opening their presents from those they viewed as their 'parents'. Bendy opened his box revealing a beginners 'how to draw' book along with a small sketch pad, pencils, crayons, and colored pencils. Benny opened his bag pulling out a 'The basics of sewing' along with a miniature sewing kit, several spools of thread and 4 different pieces of fabric. Both toons rocketed into Henry and Allison's arms happily repeating 'thank you' over and over.

Each person took turns presenting gifts to the toons. Norman gave Benny several balls of yarn and a knitting set, and Bendy a set of watercolors, along with brushes and a mini easel. Wally gave Bendy a 'little joksters guide to harmless pranks' resulting in a small groan from Henry, for he knew he was gonna be the guinea pig for whatever that book had in store. Wally then gave Benny a recorder and a 'beginning winds' music book, also gaining a groan from Tom who feared Benny possibly playing it at random hours. Allison gave Bendy 3 different outfits, while Henry gave Benny a travel sewing machine. Susie gave Bendy and Benny both a set matching hats, bow ties and mittens to go along with the set of coats that Sammy had bought them. Sammy also slipped Benny and Bendy a children's keyboard and a 'how to play the piano'. He quickly swiped the recorder and replaced it with a flute, giving Wally a scowl. He was going to have a small talk with the man about his poor choice in instruments. As far as he was concerned a recorder was not a musical instrument, but a instrument of annoyance and headaches.

The toons were overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of the gifts given to them, each person had to pry the toon off them after they received their gifts. Benny ran to his room to put his gifts away while Bendy put his in his day pack in the guest room they were using, both equally overjoyed at the days events. The weren't expecting such a gathering of people for a holiday called 'Christmas' let alone the food, merry making, singing, and the gift giving. It was more then what they could ask for.

With the toon's gifts taken care of, the adults turned to each other and started passing around small parcels and bags. Tom gave Henry a 'special' bottle which Henry gladly accepted and in turn gave Tom his own 'special' bottle. Allison shot Tom and Henry a glare and told them to 'drink responsibly'. Henry chuckled and gave Allison and Tom tickets to the local Science Center and the Natural History Museum, telling them to make sure to take Benny along. The couple laughed as they gave Henry tickets to the local Art Museum and ironically the same Natural History Museum, telling him make sure Bendy tags along cause he enjoys seeing rather then reading. The 'parent's laughed at each others gifts since they were very much directed at the desire for the toons to see what the world has to offer, and what better way then learning through Art, Science, and History since they toons couldn't attend school like normal children.

Norman, Sammy, Wally and Susie all presented envelopes and a collection of small boxes to the 'parents' of the toons. Allison and Henry both opened the envelopes finding that within each envelope contained $50 and a note telling them to spend it on themselves so they can use their normal paychecks for 'the kids'. They all laughed as they formed a group hug thanking their former coworkers for also thinking of them, the adults need for 'me time' and to have a moment away from 'the kids'. Tom took a moment to open the small boxes he had been handed, and found small Christmas ornaments representing each person, a film reel from Norman, a banjo for Sammy, a angel for Susie, and a cake for Wally. 

Upon seeing the cake Sammy immediately asked Wally if he was the one that ate his cake he had in his office. Wally only nervously laughed as Sammy took that as a 'yes' and made motions to strangle the man. Norman slightly restraining the frustrated musician while wally was shouting that the incident was 'over 30 years ago'. Sammy didn't care but calmed down when Susie told him she'll get him his own chocolate cake. Henry laughed looking at his own set of ornaments for himself and Bendy should he have a tree set up in his own home.

The toons came back from putting their things away to find the adults all hanging their respective ornaments on the Christmas tree. Both toon looking in awe at the new additions to the tree. Allison's words ringing in Bennys head about 'Ornaments representing the family are always put near the top while ornaments that represent friends, or life events go all around the tree'. A smile crept across the toons face in realization as to what she meant, his friends, his extended family all had a place on his tree.

Henry went to the guest room to put his ornament set away and returned with two small boxes of his own, hanging two additional ornaments on the tree, a inkwell and a little normal Bendy doll with Bendy's original creation date embroidered on him. He too had paid a visit to the 'local grandmas' and asked for a ornament of Bendy to be made but instead of just one, but for two, one for himself and one as a gift. Tom burst into laughter as he held out a small box to Henry telling him he had the same idea with Benny and that Henry now has a mini Benny ornament as well.

The rest of the adults traded off gifts of money, gift cards or small articles of clothing to each other as they were all more focused on making this a day to remember for their little tooney companions since it would be their fist Christmas. They all sat around as they chatted into the night with the fireplace long since burnt out, and only when the little toons started nodding off is when everyone started to take the hint of heading home. Allison gave Norman, wally, Sammy and Susie each a tin of cookies to enjoy at their leisure and to have a safe trip home while Tom and Henry both picked up the worn out demons and escorted them off to bed. Allison stood in the doorway waving good-bye as she watched each vehicle slowly pull out of the driveway and headed down the road.

She walked back inside, locking the door and made her way down the hallway turning off various lights as she was getting the house to settle in for the night. Stopping briefly at the guest room seeing Bendy and Henry quietly chatting to each other as Henry gave the little demon a hug before he himself crawled into bed laying the toon next to him. Bendy curling into Henry's side as the man's arm draped around him protectively as they both were resting for the night. Allison whispered a quiet 'good night' to the two, Henry briefly waved at her, his own way of saying 'good night' as to not disturb the now sleeping demon in his arms. She quietly closed the door and resumed her stride down the hall.

Allison strode further up the hallway ultimately coming across an open door with the lights off, peering inside she saw her own toon with Tom just as he was laying Benny to bed as well. She walked up to her husband and smiled when he just finished tucking Benny in his bed. She brushed her hand along the toons horns resulting in a small hum and he turned to face them.

“thank you for today, and Merry Christmas.” Benny quietly spoke as he was trying to stave of sleep a little bit longer, lazily reaching up to them.

“you're welcome sweetie and Merry Christmas to you too.” Allison gently hugged and kissed the demon on the cheek as Tom patted him on the side of his head. The couple quietly watched Benny smile up at them and then slowly drifted off to sleep with little 'Z's floating above his head. Tom placed another blanket over the toon and he and Allison both crept away from the bed, and headed to their own room, calling it a night.

Christmas eve was closing the curtain and Christmas day had yet to begin, Allison's thoughts drifted to how the day may pan out for the morrow. She was satisfied that the toon's had their own series of surprises and wonders for the day, now it was time for some special people in their lives to experience the same. She could only hope that the toon's would be able to understand why it is important to see them, when they need it the most.

\----------------*Christmas Day*-------------------

The morning came early for the adults as the toons woke bright and early and with renewed energy, were racing about the house playing with each other, sounding like a mini herd of elephants. Tom and Henry were a chorus of groans as they crept into the kitchen, both glued to their mugs of coffee that Allison handed them. Moments like these made Tom thankful that Allison was an early riser since she already had breakfast on the table and coffee made. Though even she looked a bit worse for wear while trying to get two overactive demons to stop playing and to come to the kitchen table and eat.

Breakfast was lively to say the least with the two eager demons happily chatting with each other about their adventures and the people they've met. Tom had to tell the toons to 'pipe down and eat your food' several times for he wasn't quite a morning person and didn't appreciate the early morning wake up call. Henry could only stifle a laugh at the moody former GENT worker as he was being offended by a small beam of light coming in through a crack in the kitchen window, getting him right between the eyes. The sun the ultimate sniper. Tom apprently either too lazy or tired to move, simply grumbled small curses at the invasion of his personal space by the light. Allison smiled at her 'morning person' of a husband and pulled the curtains a bit tighter to cover the crack, thus removing his personal annoyance.

Once everyone was finished with their breakfast, and the two men were more awake, Tom and Henry shuffled off to their rooms leaving Allison and the toons behind. Bendy and Benny tried to go play in the living room when a pair of gentle hands grabbed them by their shoulders, stopping the toons in their tracks. They turned around to come face to face with Allison each with a confused expression on their faces.

“Now boys, I want you to go get dressed. We're going out for awhile.” Allison gave both Bendy and Benny a big grin.

“Where are we going?” Benny asked tilting his head in confusion. He thought they were gonna play all day since it was Christmas.

“Oh never you mind. Just go on and get dressed.” Allison ushered the toons to their respective rooms, dropping Bendy off by the guest room and continued on with Benny.

Bendy upon being dropped off by his room saw Henry was already dressed and was putting on his going out coat.

“Henry.” Bendy approached, scratching the back of his head in confusion as to why he was so hastily moved through the house. He wanted to play.

“Yes?” Henry sat on the bed and was sliding his shoes on, stopping to look at his little cartoon friend.

“Do you know where we're going?” Bendy rocking on his heel hoping to get an answer.

“Yep, but it's a surprise.” Henry flashed Bendy a small devilish grin, making the toon pout slightly. “Oh come now bud, lets get ready. Trust me, you'll like the surprise.”

The toon immediately perked up at the word 'surprise' and went to his day pack pulling out the coat Sammy bought him. Henry walked over to him and helped him put the coat on along with the matching hat and mittens Susie bought. Bendy looked darling in his little outfit. The coat was a mousy Grey with a knitted black trim with matching black hat and mittens. The only thing that could be seen of Bendy was his pie cut eyes and large grin. Henry went back to the bed and finished putting on his shoes and grabbing his cap and gloves. Double checking himself in the mirror and carefully looking Bendy over, Henry deemed themselves presentable and headed for the door.

Henry and Bendy stepped out of their guest room and wandered into the living room to find that Benny was already there waiting for them. The little plushtoon had a Earthy Brown coat with a light brown fluffy trim with matching mitten and hat. Benny rushed over the Bendy as they proceeded to chat amongst each other at a mile a minute, both of them excited over what the 'surprise' was going to be. Allison and Tom both stepped out of their own room all dressed and ready to go. 

Allison told the toons to stay put while the adults went into the kitchen, some clattering around and shuffling later the group emerged with several large grocery bags and 2 roll-away coolers. The group slowly made it's way out of the house with Tom stopping briefly to lock up before catching up with the group as they walked down the street chatting. The adults laughing at the excited chatter of their demon companions, which they found funny considering that the toons were nearly as old as they were.

A brisk 5 minute walk later and the party arrived at the entrance of the Board and Care home. Bendy and Benny were both shocked and happy that they get to spend Christmas with the 'local grandmas'. The door swung open and the two toons were swept off their feet by a pair of elderly ladies Sherly and Mary, they were carried into the home closing the door, leaving the adults standing shell-shocked and forgotten outside.

“Well, I guess we're not wanted.” Tom jokingly scowled. He couldn't believe he had the door closed on his face.

“You know how it is Thomas, they are just excited to see the toons. Remember they are like their grandchildren.” Henry laughed at the rate his toon was abducted, he'd never seen old women move that fast.

A much younger woman opened the door trying to hide the crack in her tired smile as what she just witnessed. she was dressed in a red dress with an apron tied around her waist, she looked at the group with warm brown eyes as he pulled her curly hair back. “Good Morning everyone. I didn't expect to see you here.” 

“You know we weren't going to miss Christmas with the ladies.” Allison smiled at the tired woman, “And we brought Christmas dinner with us.” she turned to reveal the bags of food and the coolers the group had carried.

“Oh that is sweet of you, I'm sure the ladies will love it.” The caregiver motioned for the group to come inside. 

The adults followed the caregiver through the short hallway that bled into the living room portion of the large central psection of the house. Benny was being hugged to death by 'grandma', while Bendy was sitting with Mae on her lap listening to her talk while she rocked slowly in her rocking chair. Allison moved over the bar style counter along with Henry to set the food down while Tom went to try and rescue Benny, promptly getting a glare from the woman. Tom swiftly found himself snagged by one of the other elder woman known as 'Doris' and was soon sitting on a chair playing backgammon with her, leaving Benny to his demise at Grandma's hand.

Allison relieved the caregiver of the kitchen duties so she could start preparing the Christmas dinner. Henry joined Tom in entertaining the group of woman while the food was being prepared. Allison pulled out the ham and threw it in the oven to heat while she pulled out some bags of collard greens and threw in a pot along with some small pieces of bacon and setting it to boil. She pulled out an apple pie and Pineapple upside down cake from the cooler and placed it in the fridge to keep them cool. The caregiver grabbed the second cooler pulling out a few juices since the elderly women couldn't have any thing carbonated. She poured the juices in small cups and placed them on a tray and distributed the drinks to the guests and ladies.

The eldest of the group known as 'Grandma Louise' cried in joy as she hugged Benny after 'grandma' targeted Henry goating him into a round of rummy. Tom sat and watched as the oldest woman softly cried while hugging the toon to her chest, Bendy quietly slipped from Mae's lap and joined Louise at her side rubbing her back gently. She bent slight and scooped up Bendy as well, now hugging both toons as they carefully hugged her back.

Tom could only frown as the scene before him, it was a grim reality that as people age some get placed in a sort of nursing home by their children or those that care for them. Many of these elderly people will see their children or grandchildren regularly for a few months or the first year, but after the children see that their parents are in good hands, they slowly slip away leaving their parents behind. He knew full well that more then half of the elderly women in the nursing home fell into that category never seeing their children or grandchildren again. He couldn't blame their happiness when either he, Allison or Henry would bring their very childlike toons to visit. The cartoon demons where like the grandchildren that the women never got to see again or never had, and for them, it gave them the drive to keep living.

Louise slowly broke the embrace as she set the toons on her lap.

“Are you ok?” Benny looked up at her with Bendy next to him, both toons wondering why she was crying so much. Bendy gently reached up and wiped away a few of her tears with his gloved hand while Benny had pulled her throw blanket back on over her shoulders. Both demons trying their best to ensure Grandma Louise was comfortable as well as to comfort her.

“I am now sweetheart, cause my boys are here.” She gently pressed her hands around the back of each toons head pulling them into her chest protectively. Both little demons hummed as they pressed into her. She couldn't have been happier, her 'grandson's' were there to see her for Christmas.

“Dinner's ready ladies~” Allison sang from the kitchen getting everyone's attention.

“Dinner? It's only just past lunchtime.” Bendy pointed out looking at the clock.

“See as Humans get older, many sleep much earlier in the day. So for you it's only around lunch time, but for these ladies it's dinner time.” The caregiver spoke as she walked past Bendy, Benny and Louise with a tray of pill bottles.

Tom got up from his game as he helped Doris to her walker, slowly walking next to her while he lead her to the dining room portion of the house between the living room and the bar of the kitchen. Henry helped 'Grandma' out of her chair and went over to Sherly helping her to the dining room since she required a walker as well. Mae and Mary were able to get up and move on their own, they helped Allison by bringing out the smaller food items that weren't too heavy for them. The last to the table was Louise since she mostly stayed in her wheelchair as both Benny and Bendy carefully pushed her to the table.

With all the elderly ladies seated at the table, Allison set up each and every plate with food for the ladies so they wouldn't have to get up, while the caregiver followed with medication or vitamins that the ladies needed to have. Each elder woman expressed thanks at the group for bringing them such a delightful dinner. Tom, Henry, Benny and Bendy all helped themselves as everyone sat down to enjoy a much quieter dinner in comparison to the day before. 

Dinner lasted for quite awhile as the ladies couldn't eat nearly as fast as their much younger visitors let alone the 2 demons whom seemingly inhaled their food and moved onto dessert. Everyone enjoyed chatting amongst each other, especially the two toon whom were equally sharing stories of their previous day to the older women. One by one as elder woman finished her plate the caregiver would remove it and replace it with a small slice of apple pie or pineapple upside down cake depending on the woman's preference. 

The toons soon took to telling women stories about their daily lives and how they are getting along with the local kids or adults. When the topic of the local church group occasionally harassing Henry and Bendy came up 'Grandma' muttered about someone getting a 'old fashioned country ass whoopin' should anyone hurt 'her little boy', while Mary commented about being a 'pacifist' and was wanting to 'pass-a-fist'. Henry had been drinking a glass of water at the time of the 2 elder women's comments, and choked as he tried not to laugh at the elderly irate women. The table burst into laughter at Henry's misfortune. 

The caregiver slipped away while everyone was finishing up with dessert only to return with an arm full of presents and gift bags, she went to each woman and handed them their respective bags and boxes. One by one the elderly ladies motioned for the toons to come to them as they each handed them a gift. The toons were absolutely enthralled, they weren't expecting another round of gifts. Benny and Bendy carefully opened their gifts revealing handmade sweaters, blankets, scarfs, mittens, and beanies. All carefully made to fit each little demon perfectly including their horns, and to be as warm as possible.

Bendy and Benny thanked each woman profusely upon receiving each gift. They gently hugged each woman since the toons often forgot their own physical strength when excited.

“I feel kinda bad, we didn't bring you a gift.” Benny quietly spoke as he looked up at Grandma Louise.

She smiled at him and pulled him and Bendy into a warm hug “Boy's, not every gift comes in a box or bag. By being there for someone who needs it is gift enough. You are my family and I'm always there for you, just like you're here for me.”

Bendy and Benny looked around the room seeing that everyone was looking at them with warm smiles on their faces nodding in agreement to Louise's words, that by being there for these women that care for them was more of a gift then they imagine. No amount of money, or item in a box or bag can equate the presence of a loved one simply being there when you need them. That these ladies considered them family just as much as everyone else who survived the Studio and like family will always be there for them.

The toons made their rounds hugging each and every single elderly woman in the room as the caregiver came out and started gently urging the women to their rooms. It had grown late for them and they were starting to get tired. Allison, Tom and Henry retreated to the kitchen and dining room to help clean up while Benny and Bendy followed each woman to her room to see her off to bed, thanking them again for the gifts, while helping the care giver set them to bed.

“I want to thank you again for coming, they really needed that.” the caregiver spoke as she returned to the living room with Benny and Bendy in tow. “Some of them haven't seen any of their family members in quite awhile, they only drop off the monthly payments and leave. Mae hasn't even seen her biological grandchild while Sherly has no children to speak of. I really feel sorry for Louise, her son just passed away and her grandson doesn't visit at all, he only sends check in the mail.” The caregivers expression completely downcast as the grim reality behind the women in her care, but smiled at the joy the toons gave them.

“You know we couldn't stay away, especially for Christmas. I know the ladies can get pretty lonely, but they are like family to us and we always support our family.” Allison smiled as she retrieved her coat, hat and gloves.  
“Yeah, someone has to keep the old ladies in check.” Tom joked as he put his coat on, resulting in a playful eye roll from the caregiver.

“It was our pleasure and we thank you for letting us come over.” Henry butted in elbowing Tom in the rib cage. “The ladies are a joy in the toons lives, giving them the love that they were deprived of.”

The caregiver gave a small nod, she was aware of some of the horrors that the toons had experienced. When Benny and Bendy first were brought to their respective homes there was that occasional day that either Henry or both Tom and Allison wouldn't be home for some reason or another. While the 3 adults didn't like leaving their new companions elsewhere, the 'local grandmas' volunteered to watch the 'kids'. Much the the elders surprise that the 'kids's were living cartoon characters. Their first few stays were fitful to say the least. The toons would wake up screaming from nightmares and hide in any small nook and cranny. The older women would coax them out of their hiding spots and hug and comfot them until they would fall asleep again. Only after talking to them and comforting the distressed toons did they finally start opening up about when they had gone through.

It horrified the women to learn what exactly happened in a cartoon studio that even they remembered the cartoons being shown in theaters when they were younger women. That a place that once brought smiles to the masses and even their own faces had such a dark, grim history and downfall. Each elder vowed then and there to fill the void created within the toons with as much of their love as they can give. Little did the elders realize that the toons were also filling a void within them that their children and grandchildren had given them, acknowledgment and love. A grandmother without her child and grandchild, and a toon without a parent or guardian. The toons learned that their 'parent's are those that cared for them, Bendy had Henry and Benny had Allison and Tom. The 'local grandmas' learned that their 'grandchildren' aren't even children nor human, but two cartoon characters that acknowledged them and loved them in turn. 

The caregiver could only smile to herself at how much each side had got back on their feet. The grandmas stopped giving up on life and started enjoying every minute of it, and the toons had went from being afraid and depressed, to confident and cheerful. She watched as the little devils darted around the living room cleaning up the wrappings and setting the living room back the way it was.

With the clean up done Benny and Bendy got dressed as Allison retrieved their presents. The group said their good-byes and made their way back home, watching Benny and Bendy play every step of the way.

\--------That evening---------

Low gurgling sounds vibrated through the backyard of the quiet home as a large black beast lurked in the center prowling around, waiting. Bendy was back in his beast form and was waiting for any sign of the attack that he knew full well was coming. Where and when? He didn't know, but he knew he had to be prepared for whatever came at him.

A loud screech from above caught the beasts attention as he stood on one hand and used the other to swat at whatever was coming. He made contact with something, grabbed it and slammed it down pinning it under his hand. He loomed over whatever he held within his hand growling at it only stopping his glowering briefly when whatever he caught didn't seem to be responding back. He lowered his head till he was nearly on top of whatever lay under his hand using his grumbling echolocation to try and 'see' what he had. That hesitation sealed his fate.

Something wrapped around his hand that came from whatever he was pinning down, and pulled his hand high up in the air. He screeched in surprised and tried to pull his hand down while something wrapped around his other hand pulling it up as well. Bendy soon found himself suspended by something as he dangled in the air hanging from his arms, his legs too small to be of any use, and his arms too long for him to try and bite at whatever bound him. He let out a series of low gurgling noises to 'see' what was restraining him and to his annoyance it was a net of giant inky threads.

A small hiss caught his attention as he looked down at its source. Benny crept out of his hiding spot and was staring at Bendy chuckling at his captive audience, his grin wide and growing wider. Bendy used his weight and swung on his arms and threads kangaroo-kicking Benny strait into a wall, all for the sake of wiping that smile off his face as he smiled at the stitched demon in turn. Benny removed himself from the wall glaring up at his ensnared counterpart, that glare disappeared as it was replaced by pure mischievous cackle.

Benny made a few motions and more threads descended to further restrain Bendy who thrashed about in protest, swiftly looking like a insect caught in a spiders web. Benny grinned maniacally as he sauntered to Bendy slowly stretching out his arms the closer and closer he got. He grabbed some of the threads and lifted himself up to Bendy's level and rested on a cluster of threads getting full view of his seething prey. Bendy flashed a full row of teeth and growled at his jailer knowing full well in his situation he had very few options left on the table.

Bendy's growls and attempts at biting Benny was faltering as the ensnared demon started to twitch uncontrollably. Bendy's growls had devolved into strange sounds that were reminiscent of someone gargling water as he was now thrashing like a worm out of the ground, much to the confusion of the audience below. 

“Umm....Henry?” Tom asked quizzically as he glanced over to Henry whom was also looking up at the spectacle. “what's he doing?”

Henry looked up as his demon who was now making a series of gurgles and was wiggling a lot. “Laughing.” Henry deadpanned, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Benny had completely pinned Bendy in his threads and was tickling Bendy mercilessly. The ink demon caught between wheezing and laughing as he tried to get away from Benny who was clearly enjoying the tickle torture.

“ **uNcLe?** ” Benny lazily sneered at this prisoner, thoroughly enjoying his victory.

“ **uNcLe, uNcLE, uNcLeEeEeE!!** ” Bendy cried out laughing in full on fits, wiggling like a worm on a hook.

Benny smiled and loosened the threads as a massive glob of ink crashed to the floor twitching and wheezing. The ink sloshed away revealing a worn out wheezing Bendy, whom was grasping his sides trying to recover his breathing from laughing so hard. A waterfall of ink spilled from above along with ink splattering all over the area as all the ink threads fell apart and Benny was standing there rocking on his heels looking at his counterpart laying on the ground. Benny held out a hand to Bendy, which he grabbed onto and Benny pulled him up to his feet. Both demons laughed and wheezed in each others arms as they hugged. This time Benny was victorious.

The two demons went back to the house where Henry and Tom were standing watching the ink in the area disappeared like it was never there to begin with. Both men had amused looks on their faces at the demons after watching their 'playing'.

“All right bud, we got to get ready to go home.” Henry thumbed towards the door.

“Awwwww already?” Bendy moaned while Benny quietly groaned to himself.

“Yep, it's getting late and I got a 3 hour drive ahead of me.” Henry stifled a yawn and he crept back inside the house. Both demons grumbled as Tom chuckled and gently led them back inside behind Henry.

It didn't take long for Henry to pack up his and Bendy's things along with cleaning up the guest room. He came out of the guest room to find Benny and Bendy chatting with each other while Allison and Tom where relaxing on the couch.

“Thanks for having us over.” Henry hugged Allison when she got off the couch.

“Anytime old man.” She chuckled as she playfully ran her fingers through his hair, which resulted a small playful scowl.

“Thanks for coming ya old coot.” Tom shot from the couch holding out his hand.

Henry grinned mischievously and grabbed Tom's hand yanking him off the couch much to his surprise and wrapped him in a one arm hug “Thanks you little turd.” The two men laughed until Henry proceeded to give Tom a noogie for his troubles.

Bendy glued himself to Allison leg “Thank you for having me over!” Allison smiled and bent down hugging the little devil while tom freed himself from Henry and ruffled his fingers through Bendy's horns. “Anytime Bendy, anytime.”

Benny attached himself to Henry and looked up at him “Thank you for coming!” Henry rubbed his fingers through Benny's horns “You're welcome little guy”

Henry swung his two day packs over his shoulders and had Bendy carry the cooler as they headed out to the SUV, stopping to wave one last time before they entered the SUV and started their trip home. Allison, Tom and Benny all stood in the doorway waving until the SUV drove out of sight. The trio returned to the house and the adults chuckled when they stopped Benny trying to hide a yawn. Allison asked Tom to clean up the living room while she put Benny to bed, turning to leave the man to his own devices.

Allison scooped up the tired plushtoon and slowly crept down the hall coming to his room. She slid a pair of green and white spotted pajamas on him before she laid him down in the bed, covering him with his blanket.

“Al..li...son.” Benny softly spoke turning to look up at her with half lidded eyes.

“Yes sweetie?” She bent down slightly so she could hear him better.

A yellow gloved hand emerged and wrapped around her neck as Benny hugged her “Thank you... for everything and Merry Christmas.”

She quietly laughed, she reached down scooping him up again and cradled him a bit before laying him back down tucking him in. “You're welcome my little devil.” Benny settled into his pillow and right as he settled down little cartooney 'Z's started floating around his head. 

Tom had walked in the doorway just in time to see Allison step away from Benny's bed and join him in the doorway giving the man a hug and a soft kiss. “Thanks for your help Tom.” She gently ran her hand over his cheek. 

he wrapped his hand around hers “Anything for our little Devil, and my little Angel.” returning the kiss.

The couple took one last look at their sleeping demon whispering 'Merry Christmas Benny' before closing the door and going to their room. They all had a long and busy weekend but for the sake of the two small demons in their lives, everyone was more then willing to make Bendy and Benny's first Christmas one to remember.

**Author's Note:**

> All the ornaments described in the story are actually based off the real Christmas ornaments I have on my tree. The designs given were quite popular back during the 1960's and in order to find them today you would have to search online or get lucky in a specialty store. 
> 
> For my family and I Christmas was always divided into 2 days. Christmas eve was spent with my immediate family and the following day was spent at my grandmothers with the rest of the family and the patients that lived there.
> 
> The portion in regards to the nursing home actually was a real place. My grandmother ran a board and care home for the elderly (irony) and the layout described was how her home was set up. I grew up within that home and saw the sad truth behind many of the patients that were left in her care. Most of her patients would have their children or grandchildren visit for a few months but once they realized that they were in good care, many wouldn't return. My sister and I became the elderly patients adoptive grandchildren since their own families left them. The best thing we gave the elderly patients was our time. We visited them nearly everyday and would spend hours listening to their stories or playing games. The best gifts don't come in a box or bag, but in the form of companionship and time. By spending time with someone you take away that loneliness that often eats away at them. The elderly patients were lonely but once we came that was no longer and issue.


End file.
